In the past, there has been a technique where, in a network to which a plurality of communication devices are connected, the measurement of a transmission path such as the measurement of the loss amount of packets between communication devices is measured. For example, there has existed a technique where a pseudo packet is generated in one communication device, the pseudo packet is received in the other communication device, and hence, a packet loss is measured. Such a technique has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-244237.
In addition, for example, there has existed a technique where, in response to the measurement value of packets having flowed in a desired measurement direction during a time period from the previous transmission of a measurement packet to the current transmission of the measurement packet, weighting is performed on a communication quality. Such a technique has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-007339.
In addition, there has existed Ethernet (ETH)-SL (one-Way Synthetic Loss Measurement: 1SL) of International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-TY.1731 standard. The Ethernet is a registered trademark. In the ETH-SL, the number of losses of 1SL packets in a measurement section within a network is calculated, and transmission quality is measured.
In addition, there has existed ETH-Loss Measurement (LM) of the ITU-TY. 1731 standard. In the ETH-LM, the number of losses in a measurement section of user packets flowing in a network is calculated, and transmission quality is measured.
However, in the above-mentioned techniques of the related art, since the number of transmissions of packets from a transmitting side is inserted into a packet and notified to a receiving side, there is a problem that a processing amount increases and it may be difficult to efficiently measure a transmission path.